A civil rights group is calling on New Brunswick to allow Indigenous students living in a Quebec border region to cross into the province to go to school.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association said today in a news release New Brunswick’s COVID-19 order singles out First Nations students and opens the province to accusations of racial discrimination.
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For weeks, the Listuguj First Nation has been wondering why about 100 of its students can no longer cross a bridge into Campbellton, N.B., to attend classes at Sugarloaf Senior High.
New Brunswick issued an emergency order in October prohibiting unnecessary travel into the Campbellton area following COVID-19 outbreaks in the region.
The CCLA says staff members from Listuguj First Nation are able to cross the border to work but students from the same school are not.
The Toronto-based group says it has written to the province’s justice minister, Hugh J. Flemming, in protest of what it says is the unlawful treatment of the Indigenous high school students.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 10, 2020.
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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.